Date of Award

1-1-2012

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Specialization

Communication and Leadership

School or Department

School of Leadership Studies

First Advisor

Dr. Carolyn Cunningham

Second Advisor

Dr. Heather Crandall

Abstract

This study looks at expectancy violation theory (Burgoon, 1978), the application of the theory in organizations, and foundational pieces of organizational communication to address how violations impact the reception of change messages among non-managers. Organizations grow and downsize for various reasons, including business performance and economic climate. Regardless of the reasons, downsizing is a hard message to deliver. It can matter little if it is to the employees who will be leaving the organization or to the „survivors‟ left behind. How the messages are delivered and understood are important for the organization to move their employees through change and move forward. Violating the expectation of employees can help or hinder those organizational change messages. Three focus groups, comprised of a total of 14 participants, were conducted and participants were asked to reflect on two different deliveries, face-to-face and e-mail communication, of layoff messages to determine how expectancy violations impact the reception of layoff messages. Results of this study indicate that face-to-face communication is the preferred method for hearing about layoffs and the impacts of violating that expectation with the use of another channel, like e-mail, includes the erosion of manager credibility and more questions about the decision made by the organization. Content of communication emerged as an important factor, especially for e-mail messages where content can be scrutinized.

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